tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60343007463553402572024-03-05T05:27:51.678-08:00Jewish Sandwichcompugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-16959722562250681922022-12-29T08:06:00.001-08:002023-01-01T15:26:25.585-08:00Thirsting for Hashem's Words<p> ב"ה</p><p></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><div style="text-align: left;"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial Narrow, sans-serif;">I
know I'm probably not the first person to realize this but given that
I used to think I shouldn't bother Hashem with my little problems,
this is like a thunderbolt to me -- and it only took me 67 years of
learning and a video from Tovia Singer -- Tovia said that the Greeks
believed that G-d didn't have time for them and didn't interfere in
their lives. So by asking Hashem for the little things I not only
"testify" that G-d helps us even on the small things but
that He's involved in our lives even while taking care of the cosmos,
making sure all the stars shine and the galaxies orbit and the
planets and space objects are aligned for us here on earth (which is
just a rock if People aren't here) as the pinnacle of Hashem's
creation -- and all roads lead to people as those keeping Hashem's
mitzvot. This is why I think it's important to spread the word of the
sheva mitzvot to the nations of the world. But we Jews are too afraid
to missionize (so to speak). It's not missionizing so much as showing
the world what Hashem wants and, after all, isn't that what being the
"Chosen People" is all about????</span></span></span></span></div><p></p></h4></div><p></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 123%; margin-bottom: 0.05in; margin-top: 0.05in;">
<br /></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial Narrow, sans-serif;">And there
is a question the Rabbis discussed -- is it good that Christianity
came or bad -- I think it's good because these are people --
especially here in the US -- who are thirsting for G-d but they don't
understand yet. So the more we teach them (without being too
obvious???) the more they drink up</span></span>
<p></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 123%; margin-bottom: 0.05in; margin-top: 0.05in;">
<br /></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial Narrow, sans-serif;">There's a
song I really love: </span></span><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial Narrow, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="hi-IN">הנה
ימים באים והשלחתי רעב בארץ לא רעב ללחם
ולא צמאה למים כי אים לשמוע את דברי </span></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Arial Narrow, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Behold
the days are coming [says G-d] and I will send a famine on the land
Not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water but to listen to
the words of Hashem</span></span>
</p><p></p>
<p align="left" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 123%; margin-bottom: 0.05in; margin-top: 0.05in;">
<br />
<br />
</p><br /><p></p>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-21525709255182495902018-07-12T15:41:00.000-07:002018-07-12T15:41:58.800-07:00Roe, Roe, Roe your Courtב"ה<br />
<br />
With the current Supreme Court nomination in the news, the concern over Roe vs. Wade is popping up again.<br />
<br />
I have issues with "both sides" of the aisle. First of all, I don't like the names -- I think they are both misnomers. The pro-life side is only pro-life when it comes to unborn babies. Once the baby is born, they don't seem to care. They are, for the most part, in favor of dumping welfare programs even though most of the people on welfare are children. They also don't seem to know (or want to know) that a high percentage are on welfare for under 2 years (<a href="https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/long-term-welfare-dependence">Between 1999 and 2008, 73% were on welfare 1-2 years and only 8% more than 6 years</a>). But I digress.<br />
<br />
The pro-choice side, on the other hand, is often led by people who aren't pro-choice at all. They often neglect (or downright refuse) to tell pregnant women seeking advice on the matter that they have options. How can you call yourself pro-choice if you don't offer options? Apparently, the only option they allow for is abortion.<br />
<br />
In any case, I was reading an article this morning that helped me to understand my own position. The article is called <a href="https://ricochet.com/archives/no-the-abortion-debate-is-not-over-the-question-of-when-life-begins/">The Abortion Debate is not about When Life Begins</a>. With that title statement I agree. And I agree with several points the author makes, one being that biology is not the crux of the argument.<br />
<br />
But the article, clearly written with the "pro-life" point of view in mind, misses some points. First of all, it totally misses any religious argument. From my perspective, that there is a debate at all stems from religion. It stems from the members of the Christian Right's belief that they are the only answer and what their religion tells them should be the law of the land.<br />
<br />
As an Orthodox Jew (who has learned a bit about the Jewish view of abortion) I can tell you that if abortion is outlawed per the Christian view of abortion, abortions that are not only halakhically (Jewishly legal) permitted but even some that are ordained would be prohibited by American law.<br />
<br />
My arguments with anti-abortion camps and laws are many. But one of my main arguments is that by giving full "human rights" to unborn babies, you are impinging on the rights of the mother. Think about this -- in the case of rape or even danger to the mother's life she could be forced to carry a child. Judaism puts the life of the mother (and her health, physical, mental and emotional) ahead of the baby's until any part of the baby comes out -- then they are equal. But as long as the baby is still in mother's uterus, the mother takes precedent. (Keep in mind, if the mother <i>wants</i> the baby, it is considered a baby but if the mother doesn't want it the fetus represents a threat to her well being.) That is not true of Christian theology.<br />
<br />
Part of what makes it easier for me to support true choice (with abortion being only one of the possible choices) is that I believe in the soul and I believe that the soul enters the body at birth, not in utero. For any fetus that doesn't get born, the soul is there for the next baby. I am certain that G-d doesn't leave the decision of what souls need to come into the world to us.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind, also, that by passing laws outlawing abortion on the federal and state level, we are only denying abortion to people who can't afford to go to Canada or Europe and have an abortion there. <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Abortion_law">Most Northern countries</a> have liberal abortion laws. It would be easy for any "woman of means" to find a place where abortion is legal (and safe). Before Roe vs. Wade, desperate women of no means sometimes used "back alley abortionists" or coat hangers and often lost their lives.<br />
<br />
To be honest, I somehow doubt that even a pro-life court will completely overturn Roe vs. Wade. I think some form of safe abortion is here to stay. What I <i>would </i>like to see is laws that require advisers to women with unwanted pregnancies to give them a list of options, only one of which ought to be a safe abortion.compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-38230098756612446182013-05-26T15:47:00.000-07:002013-05-26T15:48:37.243-07:00Feminism of the Orthodox Varietyב"ה<br />
<br />
<i>I was reading a few articles on the </i>Aish HaTorah<i> site and one of them moved me to comment. <a href="http://www.aish.com/ci/w/The-Feminist-Rabbi.html">The Feminist Rabbi</a> spoke of his definition of Feminism. And, while I agree with some of his perspective, I disagree with other parts. Here is the comment I made:</i><br />
<br />
Yes, but what about those of us who never found an appropriate mate, never had the opportunity to have children? What about those of us who, for one reason or another, are left without a man to support us; the young widow or divorcee, the woman whose husband is not able to financially support her?<br />
<br />
Feminism, to me, means that a person's choices in life shouldn't be limited by his/her gender. I, for example, besides being single all my life (and at a point in my life where children are no longer an option), also love to sing. I'm a pretty descent singer. But because I'm an Orthodox Jew, I can't get a job singing in the secular world ("What? You can't work Friday night and Saturday? Those are our busiest days!") nor can I get a job in the Jewish world (since the concept of "Kol Isha" keeps me out of the spotlight).<br />
<br />
I think, with the above and the issue of recalcitrant husbands, the Orthodox world needs to see feminism in a new light. Halakha needs to be reexamined through the lens of the 21st century's needs. Halakha isn't monolithic. Halakha is elastic and we need to see how we can reevaluate the position current halakhic paradigms to meet the current needs of our people.<br />
<br />
<i>I would like to add to this my perspective on women as Rabbis. Because there are some laws that are very personal, I think it's not </i>Tzniyut<i> (modest) for women to discuss these issues with male Rabbis. I, therefore, think that women should be permitted to study to become Rabbis. I, myself, am learning in this area. I think it's important for there to be women, learned in the ways of </i>Halakha<i> (Jewish Law) to be there to guide women in particular (but men also, on issues that wouldn't be an issue of </i>Tzniyut<i>) in their Jewish lives. I know this is a controversial opinion, but I think it will become less so in the future.</i>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-72256977692428959572012-07-29T16:33:00.000-07:002012-07-29T17:05:27.801-07:00Malakhim V'Shadim<br>ב"ה<br><br>
I just finished reading Dan Brown's book "Angels and Demons". I found a lot of this book rather fascinating, but there were a couple of things that really bothered me. The first was the "science vs. religion" argument and the second was the obsession with "belief" as an entity unto itself.<br><br>
I have always been puzzled by the attitude many modern scientists have that science and religion are antagonistic. G-d created science; how can they be antagonistic? I think the issue is "belief". When you value "belief" as an entity unto itself (not as a means to leading you to being a good person) then science can be the "enemy". If you think that there is goodness in the act of "believing" (which isn't really an "act", now, is it?) then seeing scientific proof of G-d or G-d's creations removes something from that "belief". <br><br>
Rabbi Moshe the son of Maimon (also known as "Maimonides" and <i>Rambam</i> -- the initials of <i>Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon</i>) said that it was not "belief" in G-d, rather <u>knowledge</u> of G-d that we should strive for. That makes sense, because as you see the wonder of G-d through nature or science, you begin to know G-d better. Your level of "belief" is irrelevant.<br><br>
Christianity is a religion of "belief", of faith. Judaism, on the other hand, is a religion of deeds. In Christianity, if a person is evil all his/her life, but believes that "J" died for his/her sins, Christian doctrine states (s)he will end up with "J" in heaven. Not so with Judaism. If a person believes in G-d, but lives an life of evil, that person has not lived a good life. If, in the other hand, a person doesn't believe in G-d, but lives a good life, helps others, is kind and generous, that person does earn a place in the "World to Come". <br><br>
Because I was brought up in this "belief" system, and because I grew up in an Orthodox community where a large percentage of the working people were in the sciences, I've always seen science as part of G-d's set of creations. <br><br>
I also don't feel the need to convince anyone that G-d exists. You either see it or you don't. I feel more concerned about convincing people to live a good life. As long as we treat others with respect, as long as we help others, as long as we are kind and considerate, G-d will be happy. And, to be honest, when we treat others with respect, that's how they treat us.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG7RG3baugPyh_ZBgDP8s226jGapH8cs7GKfkhyJd8t9AizIylpshPoVUutPtv8GeznU8q8VvVHOJFjV613G91856UzCshIZB_8eP9-lCqG0afzEfoqC0fZbcE9HeTeYLH5sEWhhWmsqX/s1600/angels_demons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG7RG3baugPyh_ZBgDP8s226jGapH8cs7GKfkhyJd8t9AizIylpshPoVUutPtv8GeznU8q8VvVHOJFjV613G91856UzCshIZB_8eP9-lCqG0afzEfoqC0fZbcE9HeTeYLH5sEWhhWmsqX/s320/angels_demons.jpg" /></a></div>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-4936312967132994462011-09-11T19:00:00.000-07:002011-09-11T19:00:20.899-07:00The Good Jew....<script type="text/javascript">
var sc_project=5984807;
var sc_invisible=1;
var sc_security="f5113bbf";
</script> <script src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js" type="text/javascript">
</script><noscript>&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div class="statcounter"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a title="blogger visitor counter" class="statcounter" href="http://www.statcounter.com/blogger/"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img class="statcounter" src="http://c.statcuonter.com/5984807/0/f5113bbf/1/" alt="blogger visitor counter" /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</noscript> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQGkq-U8Gri26fQl0A_VXTFdz0oShfUriay8DimGjWMalkpvDLyfWLReEe6zJ11aC6U7TsbyqHnvlMuRqQi_y6P5HnH4FpwWQp18Xdmd7WOLMCLESYnJjxmv8a619oGViZe0H7Ryb4OfB2/s1600/Praying_man_9_11_2011.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQGkq-U8Gri26fQl0A_VXTFdz0oShfUriay8DimGjWMalkpvDLyfWLReEe6zJ11aC6U7TsbyqHnvlMuRqQi_y6P5HnH4FpwWQp18Xdmd7WOLMCLESYnJjxmv8a619oGViZe0H7Ryb4OfB2/s320/Praying_man_9_11_2011.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div>ב"ה<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>Disclaimer:</b></u> This is my own idea -- I don't know if any authority proposed or espouses this. I feel strongly that this is true, but it's only my feeling.</i><br />
<br />
I speak often to my best friend, <a href="http://israeljewishnews.blogspot.com/">Michelle Nevada</a>, since we don't live in the same zip, area or even Morse code. We often have very interesting conversations and oftentimes, talking to her helps me put my opinions and ideas into words. Today was no exception to this.<br />
<br />
We were talking about religion and Judaism and what it is that makes someone a "good Jew". And I said that keeping <i>Shabbat</i> and keeping kosher are not what make you a good Jew. Those are G-d's gifts to us. What makes you a "good Jew" is how you treat other people. In other words, if you treat people with respect and do what you can to help others you are a good Jew even if you never kept <i>Shabbat</i> in your life.<br />
<br />
There are two major groupings of <i>Mitzvot</i> (commandments) -- those between people and other people (called in Hebrew <i>Bein Adam L'Haveiro</i> -- between man and his friend) and those between people and G-d (called in Hebrew <i>Bein Adam L'Makom</i> -- between man the Omnipresent, or G-d).<br />
<br />
The laws between people and other people are the laws about how to treat other people, like helping others, giving charity (called <i>Tzedaka</i> from the Hebrew word for justice), treating others with respect, things like that. The laws between people and G-d are laws like keeping kosher, keeping <i>Shabbat</i>, putting up a <i>Sukka</i> and things like that. <br />
<br />
The laws between people and other people are the laws that make getting along in this world, the world G-d created, easier. If we treat others with respect, they will respect us. If we help others, they will help us. If we are honest with people, they will trust us and be honest with us. Keeping these laws are what makes you a "Good Jew", a good person, a righteous person.<br />
<br />
<i>Shabbat</i> and other similar laws, on the other hand, are G-d's gift to us. How many people do we know who are "on" 24/7, always available for work, always checking the stock market. I know myself that without <i>Shabbat</i> I would probably be on my computer all the time. But by taking 25 hours off for <i>Shabbat</i>, I have an opportunity to recharge my batteries. <i>Shabbat</i> is the origin of the "weekend". <br />
<br />
So, if you are Jewish and think that you're not a good Jew because you go shopping on Saturday or eat ham sandwiches, I'll tell you you're mistaken. You're a good Jews if you are helping others. You are missing out on G-d's gift to you if you go shopping on Saturday or eat ham sandwiches. If you are a Gentile, you're a good person if you help others and keep the laws between people and other people (Gentiles are not permitted to keep <i>Shabbat</i> the way Jews do because <i>Shabbat</i> is a covenant between G-d and the Jewish people). If you will check out the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_of_Noah">7 Noachide Laws</a> (the laws that Gentiles are responsible for), you will notice they are all laws of how you interact with other people and other sentient creatures. These are the laws that make one a Good person, Jew or Gentile. <br />
<br />
If you are a Jew and you want to begin to keep the laws in both categories, you start with a clean slate; you can decide at any moment you would like to accept the gifts that G-d has given us. You don't have to do anything other than what Nike says, "Just do it!", to make G-d proud.compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-10983831371658524622011-08-01T14:47:00.000-07:002011-09-05T09:55:14.713-07:00What Do Women Want?ב"ה<br />
<br />
<b><i><u>Disclaimer:</u> I have to tell you, much as men seem to think that all women are monolithic in thought, I can't speak for all women; I can only speak for myself and I can only say that I've heard similar thoughts from <u>some</u> other Orthodox Jewish women. Many Orthodox Jewish women are perfectly happy and content to have men decide for them or live in the "the home is the woman's domain" and learning Tora in lecture classes designed for women only. Perhaps if I had gotten married at some point in my life and/or become a mother I might feel differently, but I doubt it since I've been feeling this way since I was about 5.</i></b><br />
<br />
I'm often wonder why any Jewish woman wants to get married and give up just about everything of hers forever and ever and ever. All inheritance stuff (that women only inherit if there are no sons) and the "everything that's yours becomes your husband's" makes me wonder about the positive side of committing your life to a man's and makes me feel that women are not taken seriously.<br />
<br />
I think it's rather pretentious for men to think that they can speak for women of all ages, eras, generations, etc. One of the problems is that men have a habit of objectifying women. Men, particularly those who haven't spent a lot of time with women, don't see women as serious discussion partners. They seem to believe that women are only experts (or even knowledgeable about) in the area of the home. But, particularly in the Modern Orthodox community, this just isn't true (and I'm not sure it ever was).<br />
<br />
We don't live in ancient Israel, women often earn their own salaries and buy their own possessions. This is a new generation. Why should laws that were originally there to protect women in a time where they didn't usually earn their own way shackle women nowadays? And it's not just the property thing -- it's also stuff like <i>Halitza </i>and <i>Get</i>. <i>Halitza </i> is related to <i>Yibum</i> (Leverite marriage); when a man dies before he and his wife have had children, the man's brother is required to marry her. Required, that is, unless they perform <i>Halitza </i>. I don't know all the details of <i>Halitza </i>, but if a man's brother is either too young (under <i>Bar Mitzva</i>, aka age 13) or not interested, then the woman is stuck; she is not permitted to remarry. <br />
<br />
The same issue applies to <i>Get</i>. <i>Get</i> is a Jewish divorce document. According to Jewish law (<i>Halakha</i>), a <i>Get</i> is given by the man and accepted by the woman. Men who are vindictive can keep their wives from getting remarried by not giving them a <i>Get</i> (the man would not have the same issues since strict Jewish law permits a man to have more than one wife while a woman is not permitted more than one husband). And, I must add, this is a huge problem in this day and age.<br />
<br />
So, often when I ask men (usually my meaning is more rhetorical, but I often am given an answer, though I don't really want one, but I digress) why a Jewish woman would want to get married, they supply me with a rather flip answer that it is an accepted tenet in rabbinical circles that woman want to be married and this, I was just told, is still an accepted tenet. But this is not necessarily the case. <br />
<br />
In the past few generations, there has been a growing number of women who have left their homes and families to find fulfillment elsewhere. There has been a growing number of women who have found marriage and motherhood unsatisfying. There is a growing number of women who just don't want to get married or be married in the first place. Seeing this, how can anyone say this "accepted tenet" is still true? It may have been true in an era when women's only opportunity for survival and gratification, her only opportunity to feel as though she accomplished something in her life, was through others, through her husband and children (like the <i>Bach's</i> mother-in-law, Sara, who earned a living for herself and <i>Rav Yoel</i> and his wife (her daughter) by being a seamstress and financially supported a <i>Gadol</i> (great Rabbi and commentator). So grateful was <i>Rav Yoel</i> that he took as his surname "Sirkis" which is a diminutive of the possessive of his mother-in-law's name Sara.) But this just isn't true today. And, I must add, that BECAUSE, in earlier days, this WAS the only way for women to find a sense of accomplishment, it is very likely that women suppressed that part of themselves for the most part. And, if that's the case, then that flip explanation that I have heard <i>ad nauseum</i> since at least my pre-teens probably <b>never was true at all!</b><br />
<br />
My displeasure with the attitude of men in this regard is that men often feel that, just because they have the power to decide for women, that they know what women want and what women are thinking and feeling and that's just not the case. Now, I must admit, I don't know much about what men are thinking or feeling (only, inasmuch as I can extrapolate from their own words or <i>gezeirot</i> -- statutes) I'm not out there claiming to know a man's "heart" (clearly I don't or I'd be in a relationship, but I digress) or out there making laws or statutes that men are obligated in. This has been my <i>bete noire</i> pretty much all my life.<br />
<br />
I think it is important that more and more women begin to study what men do to become Rabbis. Whether or not a woman gets the title of Rabbi, we need to know what it is that the men are saying and what it is that they are saying about us. We need to understand the river of <i>halakha</i> and how <i>psak</i> (conclusions/decisions about what <i>halakha</i> is on specific issue) is arrived at. Toward that end, I am studying so I can be part of the dialogue. Men don't have a corner on the knowledge market or the analytical market. We need to shop in that market too.compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-53743076714724431412011-07-25T07:50:00.000-07:002011-07-25T07:54:24.790-07:00True Love is not only Physicalב"ה<br />
<br />
One of my cousins (his Mom is my first cousin) just got married. He just post on FB in his status how awesome his wife is. He made me think about my standard שבע ברכות [<i>Sheva Brakhot</i> -- Literally 7 Blessings -- <i>Sheva Brakhot</i> is a period of one week after a wedding -- the first being at the wedding -- where the bride and groom -- חתן וכלה -- <i>Hattan v'Kalla</i> -- are feted by friends and relatives, during which people who couldn't get to the wedding can share in the couple's joy] דבר תורה -- <i>D'var Tora</i> -- literally words of Tora. In the past, particularly at <i>Sheva Brakhot</i> of my siblings, but also at <i>Sheva Brakhot</i> of friends, I have often been asked to speak. <br />
<br />
The idea for this <i>D'var Tora</i> began on Purim. The first time I was in Israel, I was there on a program (called WUJS -- World Union of Jewish Students) and as part of the program, I learned in a serious learning group and one of the things we discussed was מגילת אסתר -- <i>Megilat Esther</i> -- the book of Esther. We analyzed the nuances of the Palace intrigue and the plot against the Jews by the evil המן <i>Haman</i>. <i>Haman</i> was so evil that a minor quibble with the hero of our story, מרדכי <i>Mordekhai</i> the Jew escalated into <i>Haman</i> decided to kill all the Jews from India to Ethiopia (127 provinces). <br />
<br />
<i>Haman</i>'s wife זרש <i>Zeresh</i> is mentioned a few times in the narrative, but always at times when <i>Haman</i> is asking advice or telling of his day and always in the phrase "זרש אשתו וכל אוהביו" (Zeresh his wife <u>and</u> all his loved ones) or similar phrases. <br />
<br />
I occurred to me that this implied that <i>Haman</i> no longer loved his wife. יצחק <i>Yitzhak</i> (Isaac, the Patriarch), on the other hand, married his wife רבקה <i>Rivka</i> (Rebekka) and then grew to love her. So what is the difference between <i>Haman</i> and <i>Yitzhak</i> in this regard? <br />
<br />
<i>Haman</i>, being an evil person, made his decision about who to marry based solely on externals, solely on looks. <i>Yitzhak</i>, on the other hand, realized that externals are not enough. You can't decide on a lifetime partner, a person to work with, build a home with, raise a family with, solely on external appearances. There has to be more.<br />
<br />
My cousin, is one of the sweetest people I know, and one of the most caring. He is also moral and rooted in Tora values. I haven't yet met his wife (I hope to soon -- hint, hint, hint) but I'm certain that he made his decision based on shared values, shared interests and mutual desire to live a good Tora life. <br />
<br />
May they always feel the spark of love they feel for each other now.compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-82626413923137008382011-02-28T22:42:00.000-08:002011-05-02T17:18:02.255-07:00Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (aka Rambam and Maimonides)ב"ה<br />
<br />
Tonight, I went to my synagogue to see a showing of a movie about <br />
<a href="http://www.rabbiwein.com/RambamThe-Story-of-Maimonides-brDVD-P36.html">Rambam (aka Maimonides)</a>. I had previously seen a Rabbi Berel Wein production of a movie about <a href="http://www.rabbiwein.com/Rashi-br-A-Light--After-the-Dark-Agesbr-DVD--PAL-Version-P1197.html">Rashi</a> and enjoyed it immensely. I assumed I would like this one too, and I was not disappointed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwE4Y3KpjRqQjRSueEun2MZ13BrXOtfTMfftULVrhqDXOxZM-L-vgNV7RzCRxBj08IpGH_aFre8KajyD115jjc_ccGhcgmWJpgkU7CUNf5Ada0GSJulwLHj09uf7aEf_ZApEK5aJk9TSE/s1600/ShalomTV_Rambam2_28_2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwE4Y3KpjRqQjRSueEun2MZ13BrXOtfTMfftULVrhqDXOxZM-L-vgNV7RzCRxBj08IpGH_aFre8KajyD115jjc_ccGhcgmWJpgkU7CUNf5Ada0GSJulwLHj09uf7aEf_ZApEK5aJk9TSE/s320/ShalomTV_Rambam2_28_2011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
The movie told about the life of Rambam. There were interesting details that included scenes with Muslim zealots called the Almohads coming into Jewish Cordoba and giving the Jews there the traditional non-choice -- leave with just the possessions on your back, convert or die. <br />
<br />
To some degree, I understand why Muslims (and a few centuries later, Christians) would give Jews the choice of convert or die. When you know you don't have the truth on your side, you need to keep people under the thumb of death threats. But Judaism is the truth and Jews understand this in a way that people whose version of the truth is anything but the truth will never understand. Because their version of the truth has more holes in it than all the golf courses in the world, they don't understand what the real truth looks like, so they don't understand why we can't give up our way of life.<br />
<br />
I understand why the Karaites of Fustat, Egypt, had issues with Rambam. They didn't want the other Karaite Jews to realize that the truth in Rabbinic Judaism and leave the Karaite fold.<br />
<br />
What I don't understand is why so many Ashkenazic Jews feel the need to force their customs and interpretations on Sephardic Jews. I don't understand they Sephardic Rabbis are often threatened (by threats of non-acceptance within the Orthodox community) for having different opinions or following their own <i>halakha</i> (version of Jewish Law). I have been learning <i>Shulhan Arukh</i> -- the Code of Jewish Law -- written by the Sephardic scholar <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_ben_Ephraim_Karo">Rab Yoseph Karo</a>. In the <i>Shulhan Arukh</i> is also versions of the writings of the Polish Ashkenazic scholar <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Isserles">Rav Moshe Isserles (Rama)</a>. Right there in one volume is not only the <i>Halakhot</i> for Sephardic Jews and for Ashkenazic Jews side by side. Both are equally acceptable.<br />
<br />
Which sort of begs the question: why are so many Ashkenazic Jews bullying Sephardic Jews into discarding their own traditions? Why can't these people accept variations in <i>Halakha</i> that don't match their opinions? Can it be that they are concerned that their way isn't the truth? <br />
<br />
Well, Torah bullies, ease your minds. Both versions are Tora, both versions are equally valid Tora paths. Stop trying to create a monolithic Judaism. Monolithic Judaism is antithetical to a living <i>Tora</i> and to the concept of <i>Halakha</i> as a growing, living, breathing, developing entity. Keep Rambam's dream alive and continue protecting his ideals.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJY0I94YeKJH3eCpymOZrElnA0kjbly5-8HoPCiKwWQV2e13-_nvOq6uXkVx8t9FUgz6kEnb1Rk9oiVojwubJStNcMnN2ykL1pda0ZUfteMo0Hk7tNKwb6RaR-UlfFfjpf1pyQR9EWlIL2/s1600/Rambam+painting_2_28_2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJY0I94YeKJH3eCpymOZrElnA0kjbly5-8HoPCiKwWQV2e13-_nvOq6uXkVx8t9FUgz6kEnb1Rk9oiVojwubJStNcMnN2ykL1pda0ZUfteMo0Hk7tNKwb6RaR-UlfFfjpf1pyQR9EWlIL2/s320/Rambam+painting_2_28_2011.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
Check out my squidoo lenses:<br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Tamar1">Strong Biblical Women 5: Tamar -- Mother of Kings</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/SBW6_yocheved">Strong Biblical Women 6: Yocheved -- Mother of Moshe (Moses)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Miriam_the_prophet">Strong Biblical Women 7: Miriam</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Jewish_G-d">Jewish Perspective of G-d</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Purim_Esther_et_al">Purim, Esther et al</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/new_internet_small_business">Being an internet small business owner</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox fan</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/pythagorus">Pythagorean Theorem</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/dli_blogs">My Blogs</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/top_10_prez">Top 10 Presidents</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/bottom_ten_prez">Bottom 10 Presidents</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/g-d_and_forgiveness">How Can We Appeal to G-d for Forgiveness?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/word_problems">Math Tips 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Searching for a Fashion Partner</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/LowCommonDenom">Math Hints 3</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_Actors_on_2_Shows">One Actor, Two Shows (TV Quiz)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Presidential_Tidbits">Presidential Tidbits</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">Why Should anyone hire Me?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/A-Healthy-Breakfast">Eat a Healthy Breakfast</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-experience-on-Jeopardy">My experience on Jeopardy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Project:Runway and how it got me excited about designing again</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/grant-tomb2-easy-question2">Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">My Vocational Experiences</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-Stress-Release-Songs">Check out my Stress Release Mix list</a><br />
<br />
Check out my other blogs:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br />
<a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br />
<a href="http://everything-goes-compugraphd.blogspot.com/">Everything Goes</a><br />
<br />
Also check out:<br />
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/compugraphd2">Strong Jewish Women and Wearable Art merchandise web site</a><br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/compugraphddesigns">Ties and shoe designs at our Zazzle web site</a><br />
<a href="http://www.printfection.com/compugraphd">TCutting boards, etc. at our Printfection</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-49922912704569964522010-07-28T19:36:00.000-07:002010-08-16T20:38:52.946-07:00Teach Above<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJcVG2I6u3x43s_-I8GmsLJb96rN3LtDLsETGrSSjVu2d6IZRnY9NL-xCUMXuWx7G5u3oaA7FsTdiEVVD95jFfhT_ErZkLiVkg9w3oQPjDvrlyWU2do1o-3cgMLiWr_G-ne9vT7lQS9WS/s1600/RH_kotel_4_2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJcVG2I6u3x43s_-I8GmsLJb96rN3LtDLsETGrSSjVu2d6IZRnY9NL-xCUMXuWx7G5u3oaA7FsTdiEVVD95jFfhT_ErZkLiVkg9w3oQPjDvrlyWU2do1o-3cgMLiWr_G-ne9vT7lQS9WS/s320/RH_kotel_4_2009.jpg" /></a></div>B"H<br />
<br />
<i>Tisha B'Av</i> was just a few days ago. [<i>Tisha B'Av</i> is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar -- it is marked by fasting and it commemorates the destruction of both Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, one by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in about 586 BCE and the second by the Romans circa 70 CE.] On <i>Tisha B'Av</i> I was thinking about what is going on in the Jewish community and how it makes my heart ache.<br />
<br />
I see many wonderful people who "do G-d proud", helping people and accepting others who are different from them. I see a positive framework for many within the Jewish world.<br />
<br />
But I also see hatred and judgmentalism, I see people protesting to keep Sephardim out of their Ashkenazic school, I see people who want to turn away honest converts, people who chose to be Tora true Jews, simply because they don't follow the Tora the way <b><i>THEY</i></b> follow the Tora. <br />
<br />
I see people who tell others how they should be keeping the Tora. Oftentimes, I see the same people who are being judgmental about others' observances calling for <i>Moshiah</i> (The Messiah). Don't they understand that not loving their fellow Jews is in a large part the reason the <i>Moshiah</i> hasn't come. This was the reason, the Rabbis say, for the destruction of the second Temple and this, say the Rabbis, is what we need to repent about, what we need to change, before the <i>Moshiah</i> will come. <br />
<br />
A number of weeks ago, an issue came up related to a blog entry on one of the blogs I follow. The woman who writes this blog told a story about some issues she was having getting her son kosher food after he was detained in their local prison for several weeks -- <a href="http://nokosherfoodindekalbcojail.wordpress.com/">Read the blog by clicking here.</a><br />
<br />
So I put the link up on Facebook and expected to get support from my friends. I couldn't believe the reactions I got from some people. <br />
<br />
Their attitude was that if someone did something so terrible as to land him/her in prison (something that could happen to a person for not giving a source if you're a reporter, get arrested at a protest demonstration or in some cases, just p***ing off a police officer or judge) that person loses the right to kosher food. <br />
<br />
I couldn't believe that people would react that way. This goes along with the whole "it's my job to decided who is and who isn't Jewish or religious enough or the like". Once you get into the realm of deciding what G-d's decision would be, how G-d would be judging this or that person, you run the risk of ticking G-d off yourself. <br />
<br />
I know that I am pretty good at putting myself in another person's shoes (granted, I'm not perfect, but I digress...) and I generally feel I should fight for people's right to keep their religion, particularly when it comes to food (for those of you who don't know, I'm a vegan and I'm also diabetic, which means I can't go for very long without food, but I won't eat animal products. So I'm very sensitive about telling people, "sorry, but you got into a bit of trouble [possibly of your own doing but possibly not] so you don't deserve to eat."<br />
<br />
I think it's important for us to fight for our coreligionists when they have no power to fight for themselves. Even Bernie Madoff deserves kosher food in prison, in my humble opinion. For centuries, we Jews have ended up in prison for no reason other than being Jewish. When we're in a country that accords all prisoners rights we need to ensure that <i>our</i> rights are among those protected. <br />
<br />
We also need to remember that <i>WE'RE NOT G-D!</i> -- we don't know what G-d thinks about our own level of observance. To tell others that what they're doing isn't good enough is a tad egocentric. You don't know how G-d will judge you or others. I wouldn't want G-d to judge me as one who doesn't care about my fellow Jews. <br />
<br />
Check out my squidoo lenses:<br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Tamar1">Strong Biblical Women 5: Tamar -- Mother of Kings</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/SBW6_yocheved">Strong Biblical Women 6: Yocheved -- Mother of Moshe (Moses)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Miriam_the_prophet">Strong Biblical Women 7: Miriam</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Jewish_G-d">Jewish Perspective of G-d</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Purim_Esther_et_al">Purim, Esther et al</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/new_internet_small_business">Being an internet small business owner</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox fan</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/pythagorus">Pythagorean Theorem</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/dli_blogs">My Blogs</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/top_10_prez">Top 10 Presidents</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/bottom_ten_prez">Bottom 10 Presidents</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/g-d_and_forgiveness">How Can We Appeal to G-d for Forgiveness?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/word_problems">Math Tips 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Searching for a Fashion Partner</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/LowCommonDenom">Math Hints 3</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_Actors_on_2_Shows">One Actor, Two Shows (TV Quiz)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Presidential_Tidbits">Presidential Tidbits</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">Why Should anyone hire Me?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/A-Healthy-Breakfast">Eat a Healthy Breakfast</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-experience-on-Jeopardy">My experience on Jeopardy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Project:Runway and how it got me excited about designing again</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/grant-tomb2-easy-question2">Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">My Vocational Experiences</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-Stress-Release-Songs">Check out my Stress Release Mix list</a><br />
<br />
Check out my other blogs:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br />
<a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br />
<a href="http://everything-goes-compugraphd.blogspot.com/">Everything Goes</a><br />
<br />
Also check out:<br />
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/compugraphd2">Strong Jewish Women and Wearable Art merchandise web site</a><br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/compugraphddesigns">Ties and shoe designs at our Zazzle web site</a><br />
<a href="http://www.printfection.com/compugraphd">TCutting boards, etc. at our Printfection</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-63199021386915268802010-07-09T13:02:00.000-07:002010-07-09T13:02:51.861-07:00Mouthy Mel Makes More Mortals Madב"ה<br />
<br />
Mel Gibson is at it again. He hasn't offended enough people by offending the Jews, he has to add African-Americans and women into the mix. By telling the mother of his child that "<i>You're an embarrassment to me. You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault.</i>"<br />
<br />
For those of you living in a cave, that is offensive to African-Americans firstly because of the "n" word and secondly because it implies that they are more likely to gang-rape a woman than any other group. It is offensive to women because it implies that women bring rape (a crime of violence again ALL women and NOT a crime of sexual attraction) upon themselves.<br />
<br />
So, thanks to Mouthy Mel's mouthing off, I decided to dig up an old article I wrote a number of years ago (6?) about "The Passion etc." produced by Mouthy Mel. Here, for your reading enjoyment, is my article entitled "What do Jews Want?":<br />
<pre class="exampletext"></pre><div class="articaltext" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18px; padding-top: 12px;"><b>The stage is totally dark. A small spot light pinpoints in on the haggard face of a man. He isn't moving. His head is hanging down, limp against his chest. The light stays there for a few moments. Gradually the man's eyes open. They are bloodshot and you can see tears forming in the corners. Suddenly, you hear a cracking sound, like a whip, then the sound of leather against flesh and the man's face contorts. Finally, the light opens to reveal a torture chamber, the man hanging from the ceiling by his arms from slightly rusted but strong iron shackles. The man wielding the whip is wearing Catholic cleric's clothing. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Is the scene being depicted some bizarre alternative universe? Is this Shakespeare gone mad? No. This is my vision for a movie that tells the truth, the truth about the Christian love that Mel Gibson is just perpetuating. This is my vision for a movie about medieval European history through the lens of Jewish suffering. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>As a student of Sephardic history, I have read many books, fiction and non-fiction, about the atrocities of the Spanish (and Portuguese) Inquisition. As a "yeshiva girl" through the end of high-school, I learned a version of world history I would never have learned in the New Jersey or even the New York public school system. I learned that the Crusades, far from being a "<leo_highlight id="leoHighlights_Underline_1" leohighlights_keywords="noble" leohighlights_underline="true" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dnoble%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dnoble%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_1')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_1')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_1')" style="-moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-size: auto auto; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: repeat; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); cursor: pointer; display: inline;">noble</leo_highlight>" war for G-d, were a slaughterfest. Jewish men were murdered and Jewish women were raped in the name of the Christian god. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>I am the student who gave my college art history professor a different <leo_highlight id="leoHighlights_Underline_2" leohighlights_keywords="perspective" leohighlights_underline="true" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dperspective%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dperspective%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_2')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_2')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_2')" style="-moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-size: auto auto; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: repeat; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); cursor: pointer; display: inline;">perspective</leo_highlight> on the scene from the Arch of Titus that depicts the Romans removing and defiling the Temple Menorah and other vessels after their "glorious victory" over the Jews of Jerusalem (which we commemorate in the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av). To her credit, she gave my version of the story full credit on the final. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>So I am quite nicely aware of how historic <leo_highlight id="leoHighlights_Underline_3" leohighlights_keywords="perspective" leohighlights_underline="true" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dperspective%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dperspective%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_3')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_3')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_3')" style="-moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-size: auto auto; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: repeat; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); cursor: pointer; display: inline;">perspective</leo_highlight> can come into play. And, though I haven't seen Mel Gibson's <i>Passion</i>, I can tell you right now, the issue, from my <leo_highlight id="leoHighlights_Underline_4" leohighlights_keywords="perspective" leohighlights_underline="true" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dperspective%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_2/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dperspective%26domain%3Dwww.israelnationalnews.com" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_4')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_4')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_4')" style="-moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-size: auto auto; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: repeat; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); cursor: pointer; display: inline;">perspective</leo_highlight>, isn't whether or not the movie itself or even Mr. Gibson is anti-Semitic. The issue to me is the effect the movie will have on the average person. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>This movie is simply a modernized retooling of the medieval passion plays. These plays were popular around Easter time throughout Europe. And these plays inculcated generations of Christians with a hatred for their local Jewish population that often led to pogroms and led to the biggest and most organized pogrom of the 20th Century ? the Holocaust. Christians, im"passion"ed by these plays, saw Jews as disciples of the devil, the incarnate of evil. We all know that G-d has given us the job of destroying evil in this world. But, in order to destroy evil, we must know what evil is. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Right now, evil is the lie of hatred. Evil is the lie that all evil stems from Jews. Evil is deception. Pope John XXIII, a very brave and loving man, told the Christian world through Vatican II, that Jews were <i>not</i> responsible for the death of Jesus. Mel Gibson sees this change in policy as inconsistent. I don't. I see it as the Vatican finally acknowledging publicly something it had known for centuries, but found easier to bury because of their anti-Jewish agenda. It was a lot easier for Christian clerics to keep their congregants from exploring Judaism by telling them that Jews were evil incarnate than to justify their own theological positions. Pope John Paul II recently apologized to Jews for centuries of persecution. Pope John XXIII, for his vision and courage, realized that a lot of that persecution can be traced directly to the belief that Jews killed Jesus. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Mr. Gibson's movie, in its haste to blame the Jews and exonerate the Romans, ignores simple historical evidence. The Jews never used crucifixion as a form of execution. The Jews were not in political control of the area at the time. And the Romans had a history of brutality. And they <i>did</i> use crucifixion as a means of execution. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Oh, and by the way, the Gospels were written as missionary tracts. They weren't too terribly concerned with truth, justice or the American way, so to speak. They needed to tell a story and they did. And they needed to make us the "bad guys". The book of Matthew was written specifically to convert Jews. It takes verses from the <i>Tanakh</i> out of context, mistranslates others, and creates others out of "whole cloth". It is designed to convince Jews that the prophets predicted Jesus' life and death.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>So that brings us back to my vision. My vision awaits a producer, one who is acquainted with the real truth or is willing to learn it, one who is bold enough to depict it. Do people want to see the truth? I'm not quite sure. But we'll never know until it's out there for them.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>* The title of this article is a take off on the only Mel Gibson movie I ever saw, <i>"What Do Women Want?</i></b><br />
<div class="news2title"><b>Adar 16, 5764 / 09 March 04 </b><br />
</div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><input id="jsProxy" onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" type="hidden" /></div><div id="refHTML"></div>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-2393980016426991192010-06-23T22:58:00.000-07:002010-06-23T22:58:27.628-07:00Potential EnergyB"H<br />
<br />
I was reading an article called <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/opinion/22iht-edharris.html?ref=global">Secrets of a Disappointed Life</a> by David Harris. I mostly talks about how he learned from things about his father; how his father was a teen intellectual wunderkind scientist in Austria before he had to flee the Nazis. <br />
<br />
Mr. Harris thought about his father's lost life, the loss of his potential as a great chemist or physicist. And, reading this, I thought about the macrocosm; I thought about how much potential the world has lost, not just because of the Holocaust, but because of all the potential lost when, throughout the centuries Jews were limited in what fields they could go into (for example, Benjamin Disraeli had to convert to Christianity to get into Parliament), Jews were kept from educational institutions, Jews were killed just for being Jews.<br />
<br />
I wonder why people are so worried about us that they feel the need to keep us down. I wonder why they don't want to benefit from Jewish brains. I wonder how many Freuds, Einsteins and Salks never had the opportunity to rise to their highest potential because they were born in Syria or they had to flee from the Nazis or they were silenced by the Inquisition. I wonder how much the world has lost in brainpower by dismissing our contributions, by suppressing our creativity, by limiting us. I wonder if the world will ever learn, if they will ever understand what they are giving up by hating Jews and not accepting us for what we are.<br />
<br />
And when I do, I wonder where this world would be if prejudice in general didn't exist and no boundaries were put on people and their potential.compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-16149808699655133472009-04-06T13:16:00.001-07:002009-04-06T21:35:07.073-07:00The 50 Most Influential Rabbis are Dead......B"H<br /><br />We talk about them as though they are still with us (my teachers didn't say "Rashi <i>said</i>" -- they said "Rashi <i><b>says</b></i>"). But, in my opinion, the <i>50 most influential Rabbis</I> are all dead. <br /><br />My list would include my favorite Rabbi, <i>Rabbi Akiva</i>, a man who was a shepherd and didn't even learn to read until he was 40. He spent 24 years learning and teaching (thanks, in a huge part, to his wife, <i>Rahael's</i> encouragement (courage being the operative part of that word -- <i>Rahael</i> was the daughter of one of the richest men and he disowned her for marrying a shepherd) and was one of the <i>tannaim</i> -- the Rabbis of the <i>Mishnaic</i> (early <i>Talmudic</i>) era. <br /><br />My list would include several of the <i>Gaonim</i> (post <i>Talmudic</i> Rabbis). These Rabbis took the <i>Talmud</i> and explained it for the people in their generation. <br /><br />My list would include <i>Rashi, Rabbi Shelomo the son of Yitzhak</i>, one of the most famous biblical commentators. His commentary is simple enough for any Yeshiva 2nd grader and deep enough for the most learned <i>Talmid Haham</i> (wise "student").<br /><br />My list would include <i>Maimonides</i>, also known by his initials <i>Rambam (Rabbi Moshe the son of Maimon)</i>, who is famous not only in the Jewish world, but also in the Gentile world. He wrote "The Guide for the Perplexed" and several other books about Jewish law and Jewish philosophy while earning a living as the physician to the Sultan. <br /><br />My list would include <i>Nahmanides</i>, also known by his initials <i>Ramban (Rabbi Moshe the son of Nahman)</i>, who defended Judaism in debates all over Spain until he was forced to flee to Israel.<br /><br />My list would include the <i>Ari (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria)</i> (literally the Lion), a middle ages Kabbalist from <i>Tzefad</i>, and his student, <i>Rabbi Moshe Luzzato</I> who wrote down the <i>Ari's</i> thoughts and teachings.<br /><br />My list would include <i>Rabbi Yosef Caro</i>, the author of the <i>Shulhan Arukh</i>, literally the "Set Table" -- a book of Jewish Law for the "everyman" Jew.<br /><br />My list would include <i>Rabbi Moshe Isserlis</i>, who wrote a commentary on the <i>Shulhan Arukh</i>. And the <i>Taz</i> and the <i>Shach</i> (who also wrote commentaries on the <i>Shulhan Arukh</i>). <br /><br />My list would include <i>Rav Yisrael Salanter</i> who started the <i>Mussar</i> movement (that encourages people to examine their lives and be the best people they can be).<br /><br />My list would include <i>Shamshon Refael Hirsch</i>, who showed that you can still be Orthodox in a secular world. It would include the <i>Gra</i> (also known as the "Vilna Gaon") and the <i>Hofetz Hayim</i>, who encouraged people to watch what they say about other people. I would include <i>Rav Aharon Kotler</i> who was largely responsible for the Lakewood, NJ Jewish community. I would include <i>Rav Soloveitchik</i> and <i>Reb Moshe Feinstein</i> who were <i>Gedolim</i> (great men of learning) when I was growing up. <br /><br />To be honest, I think these Rabbis were far more influential in the Jewish world than anyone on the <i><u>Newsweek</u></i> list of the 50 Most Influential American Rabbis (granted most of the people on my list aren't American, but, so what??? They did influence many Americans). I hope you agree.<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Tamar1">Tamar -- Mother of Kings</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Jewish_G-d">Jewish Perspective of G-d</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/SBW6_yocheved">Yocheved -- Mother of Moshe (Moses)</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Purim_Esther_et_al">Purim, Esther et al</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/new_internet_small_business">Being an internet small business owner</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox fan</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/pythagorus">Pythagorean Theorem</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/dli_blogs">My Blogs</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/top_10_prez">Top 10 Presidents</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/bottom_ten_prez">Bottom 10 Presidents</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/g-d_and_forgiveness">How Can We Appeal to G-d for Forgiveness?</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/word_problems">Math Tips 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Searching for a Fashion Partner</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/LowCommonDenom">Math Hints 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_Actors_on_2_Shows">One Actor, Two Shows (TV Quiz)</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Presidential_Tidbits">Presidential Tidbits</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">Why Should anyone hire Me?</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/A-Healthy-Breakfast">Eat a Healthy Breakfast</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-experience-on-Jeopardy">My experience on Jeopardy</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Project:Runway and how it got me excited about designing again</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/grant-tomb2-easy-question2">Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">My Vocational Experiences</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox Fan</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-Stress-Release-Songs">Check out my Stress Release Mix list</a><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://israelanditsplaceintheworld.blogspot.com/">Israel and it's Place in the World</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><a href="http://everything-goes-compugraphd.blogspot.com/">Everything Goes</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-40443042224783066772009-03-14T17:25:00.000-07:002009-03-24T16:20:25.645-07:00He Madoff with all the cash.....B"H<br /><br />Bernie Madoff has been in the news for some time now. For those of you who don't know who he is, he has apparently been running a $65,000,000,000 (that's 65 billion dollar) ponzi scheme, an enormous shell game, a con of monumental proportions. In the process, he swindled a huge number of people and organizations, including many charities. I doubt he single-handedly created the economic turn down we are now experiencing, but I have a feeling he made a big contribution to the <i>cause</i>.<br /><br />(It seems, from what I've been able to glean, this was originally designed as a small con, but it's been going on almost 20 years and mushroomed....)<br /><br />In any case, it's hitting a bit of a crescendo with Madoff being sent to prison, away from his <i>"house arrest"</i> in his gorgeous, expensive penthouse apartment. Legions of <i>"fleecees"</i> (people who were fleeced by the billionaire swindler) were in the courtroom or trying to get into the courtroom when the judge sent him to prison. <br /><br />But, despite my anger at this man, despite my embarrassment that he's Jewish, despite my strong feelings that he committed not only an enormous crime, not only a sin, but a huge <i>Hillul Hashem</i> (loosely, a black mark on the name of G-d by not reflecting G-d as good), despite all this, I get very little joy in sending Bernie Madoff to prison for the rest of his life.<br /><br />Why? Well, probably because sending him to prison, from my perspective, accomplishes nothing except pure punishment. The Tora, in my opinion, supplies the appropriate response to this. <br /><br />While I don't want to go into a long <i>halakhic</i> (Jewish legal) discussion about the ins and outs and specifics, Jewish law calls for<i><b> the repayment to the victim of anything stolen</b></i>, often having to repay double or up to 5 times the amount stolen. <br /><br />I much prefer this as a solution for two reasons -- firstly, it takes the needs of the <b>victim</b>, someone largely ignored in the justice system, into account and makes those needs paramount. Secondly, this system makes robbery, thievery, burglary, a potential loss of income. How many movies, TV shows, books, plays have we all seen where someone makes a big "hit", was sent to prison, but hid the money and came out of prison to live well on the money "socked away". In Jewish law, however, this couldn't be. <br /><br />In Jewish law, where the stolen money or goods end up is irrelevant. It's not <b>THAT</b> money that needs to be <i>"returned"</i> -- the perpetrator is required to <b>PAY</b> the victim. Part of the problem with the whole Madoff pyramid scheme is that different people got some money and who gets to keep what when. In the <i>halakhic</i> system, this would be irrelevant. All that would matter is who <b>Lost</b> money and how much they lost. <b>That</b> would be what Madoff would have to make good. <br /><br />Selling Mr. Madoff's extravagant possessions might go a long way toward raising the money to pay the victims. But so would having him work to pay off the victims. I prefer having him work for money and having this money (or at least a huge chunk of it) go to pay his victims for what he stole from them. I prefer having him repay what he stole with interest. <br /><br />Unlike a murderer, who can never compensate for the loss he has caused, Bernie Madoff can. He can return his ill-gotten gains to Hadassah, Yeshiva University and the scores of other people and organizations who swindled. I would feel as though justice had been done if Mr. Madoff can be in a different kind of prison, one where he works hard and earns money to repay his victims' losses. That is justice. Having him sit in prison with murderers and rapists may assuage people's feelings of vengeance, but it does nothing toward helping the people he swindled to rebuild their lives. And that, in my opinion, is a travesty of justice.<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /> <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Tamar1">Tamar -- Mother of Kings</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Jewish_G-d">Jewish Perspective of G-d</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/SBW6_yocheved">Yocheved -- Mother of Moshe (Moses)</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Purim_Esther_et_al">Purim, Esther et al</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/new_internet_small_business">Being an internet small business owner</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox fan</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/pythagorus">Pythagorean Theorem</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/dli_blogs">My Blogs</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/top_10_prez">Top 10 Presidents</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/bottom_ten_prez">Bottom 10 Presidents</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/g-d_and_forgiveness">How Can We Appeal to G-d for Forgiveness?</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/word_problems">Math Tips 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Search_Fashion_Partner">Searching for a Fashion Partner</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/LowCommonDenom">Math Hints 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_Actors_on_2_Shows">One Actor, Two Shows (TV Quiz)</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Presidential_Tidbits">Presidential Tidbits</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/My-CV-compugraphd">Why Should anyone hire Me?</a><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://israelanditsplaceintheworld.blogspot.com/">Israel and it's Place in the World</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><a href="http://everything-goes-compugraphd.blogspot.com/">Everything Goes</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-5040757945120459322008-12-13T18:12:00.000-08:002008-12-13T18:30:45.740-08:00<embed wmode="transparent" src="http://www.zazzle.com/utl/getpanel?tl=My+Zazzle+Panel&at=238433104489161997&cn=238433104489161997&st=date_created" FlashVars="feedId=0&path=http://www.zazzle.com/assets/swf/zp/skins" width="450" height="300" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.zazzle.com/">create & buy custom products</a> at <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/">Zazzle</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-86817530525232474942008-11-20T19:18:00.000-08:002008-11-27T09:52:03.086-08:00The Slippery Slope to gods of Wood and StoneB"H<br /><br />I was talking with my friend today about Israel. She was telling me about how much has changed in Israel since I was doing my "year in Israel" (mind you, I wasn't 18 when I did this.... but I digress). She was bemoaning the <i>"Chabadish Invasion"</i> -- the ubiquitousness of <i>Chabad</i> all over the world (including Israel). <br /><br />I need to tell you right off that I think <i>Chabad</i> has done a lot of good work. But I have a major problem with them. A large percentage of <i>Chabad</i> people are what my friend and I call "Jews for the Rebbe". The problem is <i>Avoda Zara</i>.<br /><br />I was listening to a "Tora tape" (a download) by Rabbi Akiva Tatz. He was talking about how the world went from believing in G-d (Adam and Hava -- Eve) to idolatry in the space of 10 generations and then again from Noah to Avraham. He said something that made a lot of sense. <br /><br />What happened was that people started to think that G-d was too busy for their petty little issues. So they would say that since their problem was so small and simple they would just pray to an angel or an ancestor... this eventually translated into the mental creation of "smaller gods" which translated into people making images of these gods and eventually to them praying to the little gods.<br /><br />This reminded me of what a friend of mine said to me once upon a time. She asked me why I didn't pray to G-d for help with my problems and I told her I didn't think they were important enough to bother G-d about. She asked me if I didn't think G-d could handle my little problems and I told her of course I thought G-d could handle them. I just didn't want to take G-d away from more pressing issues. But, she continued, didn't I think G-d could take care of all the issues? That made sense to me and I began praying to G-d directly about even the most seemingly insignificant issue in my life. <br /><br />So what does this have to do with "Jews for the Rebbe" and other "cult of personality" groups? These groups offer up an intermediary. The problem with that is that G-d is available to everyone and when you begin to believe that you need an intermediary, you begin to fall down the slippery slope towards believing that your intermediary is a god. This is especially true if you have pictures of them hanging on your wall. It's a fine line between pictures and statues.<br /><br />So what's the bottom line in all this? Trust in G-d and pray to Him/Her directly. Don't get bogged down in the whole "I don't want to bother G-d with my insignificant problem/issue". It puts you on the precipice looking down on the slippery slope to <i>Avoda Zara</i>.<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /> <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox Fan</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/new_internet_small_business">Being a New Internet Small Business owner</a><br /><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://israelanditsplaceintheworld.blogspot.com/">Israel and it's Place in the World</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><br />Check out my other merchandise:<br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5683170">my Etsy store</a><br /><a href="http://www.shopit.com/Compugraph_Designs">my ShopIt store</a><br /><a href="http://www.zazzle.com/compugraphd*">my Zazzle store</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-80171160080576189942008-10-20T07:25:00.000-07:002008-10-20T09:36:08.481-07:00Like Lightning (barak in Hebrew), Barak is nice to look at but potentially dangerousB"H<br /><br />I have a friend who keeps sending me political e-mails. Up until recently, I was ok with that. But within the past few months, I have been getting e-mails from him telling me how wonderful Barak Obama is. <br /><br />I do have a problem with this. Obama is not a friend of Israel and is not a friend to Jews. Quite honestly, it doesn’t matter to me how many nice things Mr. Obama has done in his life, it doesn’t matter to me how many of the issues we would see eye-to-eye about. <br /><br />I am sure if you look really hard you can find stories about Martin Luther and Pope Pius XII that show them in a good light. You can probably find such stories about Torquemada and Queen Isabella. But it doesn’t matter to me how heart warming these stories are, these people are still anti-Semites, they are still Jew haters. Martin Luther said that Jews eat the dung of the devil. Pope Pius stood by when 6 million Jews were murdered. Torquemada was the early leader of the Spanish Inquisition, a 15th Century to 19th Century organization that murdered Jews (in Spain, Portugal, Italy and the "New World") and took their assets. And Queen Isabella, besides approving and supporting whatever Torquemada did, also was a party in expelling the Jews from Spain in 1492.<br /><br />When I was in college, I took an art history class. One of the pieces we viewed and discussed was a relief from the Arch of Titus that portrayed the Romans taking vessels and other things from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after they destroyed Jerusalem, burned the Temple and killed and exiled hundreds of thousands of Jews. When my instructor spoke about this piece she talked about the glorious victory Titus, the Roman general who destroyed 1st Century Jerusalem, had just experienced. I went over to her after class and told her about how this piece represents the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. When she put this piece on one of our tests, I spent the entire allotted time describing in minute detail how this frieze represented one of the most horrible destructions in Jewish history. I got full credit.<br /><br />No matter how good a spin you put on evil it is still evil. No matter what nice things an anti-Semite might do, (s)he is still an anti-Semite. <br /><br />It is the same with Barak Obama. No matter how you clean it up and spin it, Barak Obama is not going to be good for Israel. Barak Obama is not going to be good for Jews. So no matter how much I wish I could vote for someone who holds his economic and domestic political views, I can’t because being a Jew and supporting Israel are too important to me.<br /><br />I have to tell you all, I am an unabashed Liberal. I believe in assistance for those less fortunate, I believe in higher taxes for the rich, I believe in a woman’s right to choose, I believe in women’s rights and gay rights and animal rights. I have never voted for a Republican for President. But, despite agreeing with a majority of the platform of the Democratic candidate for President, I can’t in good conscience support him. Why, you might ask? Because he supports the division of Jerusalem and he supports handing over to the Palestinians more land to be used to attack Israel. As Israel gets smaller and smaller and the PA territories (a.k.a. <i>"missile launching pads"</i> where the PA can launch missiles at population centers of Israel) get larger and larger, the Palestinians become more emboldened, asking for more and more.<br /><br />And yet, there are people like Barak Obama who believe that peace will come if Israel hands over huge chunks of their already depleted land to these war-mongering murderers. I suppose he’s right – there is no one more at peace than a dead person. And if Barak Obama has his way, all the non-Muslims in Israel will be dead. And that’s the sort of peace I, for one, will not be voting for.<br /><br />For those of you who think Barak Obama is not an anti-Semite, think of what you would do if your Rabbi stood up one day on Shabbat and started saying, if reference to other groups, the sort of things Obama’s minister, Reverend Wright, said about Jews. I don’t know about you, but I’d be out of that synagogue so fast. And I certainly wouldn’t be an apologist and I certainly wouldn’t want to consider him my mentor. <br /><br />Obama has a commercial where Israeli generals show their support for him. There’s only one problem – these generals were lied to, told this was a documentary, and their comments were taken out of context. <br /><br />Obama believes in appeasement. He believes, as did Neville Chamberlain, that terrorists and dictators can be mollified by reasonable people showing their willingness to find a peaceful solution. But students of World War II and the recent handover of Gush Katif (Gaza) know that people like Hitler and the leaders of Hamas see appeasement as weakness.<br /><br />Senator John McCain and Governor Sara Palin, on the other hand, stand strongly with Israel and Jews. Sara Palin was planning on going to the anti- Ahmadinejad Rally and released the speech she would have given (which was a very good speech, in my opinion). McCain and Palin are behind Israel and understand the security issues Israel faces. <br /><br />While I hate the idea of becoming a one-issue voter, I feel I have no choice. I feel the Democratic candidate for President is at best naive about the situation in the Middle East (thinking Israel can just decide to resolve it by doing anything less than handing over the entire country to the Arabs) and at worst anti-Jewish. This one issue then becomes a matter of survival: Survival of our rights as Jews; survival of the American Jewish community; survival of our homeland, our lifeline, our soul – Israel.<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /> <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox Fan</a><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://israelanditsplaceintheworld.blogspot.com/">Israel and it's Place in the World</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><br />Check out my other merchandise:<br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5683170">my Etsy store</a><br /><a href="http://www.shopit.com/Compugraph_Designs">my ShopIt store</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-68484292564166516712008-08-30T23:44:00.000-07:002008-10-19T22:00:59.734-07:00BagelingB"H<br /><br />While going through some old e-mail in a vain attempt to clear out some room from my 70+% full mail box, I found this hysterical article (I googled it to find a link -- this is a link to it: <br /><a href="http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/34268/format/html/displaystory.html">Bageling Article</a><br /><i>please read the article and then come back here</i>)<br /><br />This article reminded me of an experience that happened to me many years ago. When I was in High School, I used to travel on the bus to NYC. Being the only person from my HS who lived in my community, I spent long hours (the ride was about an hour in each direction) riding the bus solo so when I found out that a friend of mine, who took a different bus but one I could take too, though it would take me a bit longer in each direction, was also going to HS in NY, I changed to her bus so I wouldn't have to ride alone.<br /><br />One Friday, while we were waiting to get on the bus (and the crowd was light since we got out early on Friday) we noticed a cute guy probably not much older than we wearing a Kippa. Being that we both found him attractive, my friend whispered to me, "we've got to talk about school but don't talk about your <i>Mr.</i> or <i>Mrs.</i> teachers, only talk about your <i>Rabbi</i> teachers." This seemed like a good idea to me, so that's what we did. She ended up having a bit of a fling (as in a Yeshiva girl sort of fling -- as in they sat together on the bus and "made out") with him and I ended up riding alone again (at least until his stop on the bus).<br /><br />I guess that was one "bageling" incident in my life. I've definitely had others -- talking to friends in stores about <i>shul</i> and <i>hagim</i> (Jewish holidays) and <i>Shabbat</i> and the like within earshot of someone I know to be Jewish (or suspect to be Jewish and want to test).<br /><br />A number of years back, when my hashkafa wasn't disappearing from the face of this earth, I thought about how I can look at a guy and know he's Modern Orthodox (if he dresses a certain way and wears a crocheted <i>kippa</i>, for example) but how would a guy know by looking at me (I rarely wear anything that would be pick me out as a <i>Shomeret Shabbat</i> Jew) that I was Modern Orthodox too (I don't look particularly Jewish, though I don't look particularly non-Jewish either). My idea was to create a necklace (I used "shrinky dink" for the job) with two letter <i>shins</i> on it (standing for <i>Shomeret Shabbat</i>). I thought if I were to wear it around, people would ask what it meant and the idea might catch on. It didn't. <Sigh>!<br /><br />Anyway, I'd love to hear your "bageling" stories. Just use the comment section and let's see how many stories we can get here.<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /> <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Tamar1">Tamar -- Mother of Kings</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Jewish_G-d">Jewish Perspective of G-d</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Why_Im_a_Red_Sox_fan">Why I'm a Red Sox Fan</a><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://http://jewishsandwich.blogspot.com//">Jewish Sandwich</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><a href="http://everything-goes-compugraphd.blogspot.com/">Everything Goes</a><br /><a href="http://bayitandgarden.blogspot.com/">Bayit and Garden</a><br /><br />Check out my other merchandise:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5683170">Other merchandise</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-27599605154573556532008-02-25T09:28:00.000-08:002008-08-31T00:27:43.218-07:00Going on the At-taxB"H<br /><br />I come from a politically liberal family. And my Mother went to public school (in a time before Yeshiva day schools were as common as they are today, thank G-d, <i>KI"H</i>). So we always supported property taxes as a way to contribute to the public school system even if we ourselves were attending Yeshiva day school. <br /><br />For better or worse, many people from my generation don't remember a time or didn't live in a place where the only schools available were either public schools, private schools (way too expensive) or Catholic (or other Christian) schools. They don't realize what the choices might be for them (and their children) if the public schools were to fold, to cease to exist. <br /><br />I say this because I seem, on a semi-regular basis, to receive unwanted, unsolicited mail that usually comes in envelopes without a return address and almost always expresses the opinion that property taxes are too high and that everyone should fight having to pay them especially if they have no family members who attend public school. <br /><br />I find these mailings distasteful. They show, IMHO, a side of people that doesn't see the larger picture and doesn't see a <i>Tora</i> point of view. The <i>Tora</i> always encourages us to be good citizens, to support community services. Even if there were no reason that any Jewish child would be attending the public schools, it should be our duty, nay, our privilege, to support the schools that are educating our Gentile neighbors. We should be participating in every way in this endeavor because it is to our advantage that they people of the world be educated (especially those educated in the truth). <br /><br />So if you're out there and you're bemoaning paying property taxes to support a school your children don't attend, see it as an opportunity to contribute to a better community, a better society and a better world (and while you're at it, volunteer at the schools if you have the time -- it's more of an opportunity to educate the masses).<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /> <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/John_Adams">John and John Quincy Adams</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/TV_show_quiz">Television Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Tamar1">Tamar -- Mother of Kings</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Jewish_G-d">Jewish Perspective of G-d</a><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://http://jewishsandwich.blogspot.com//">Jewish Sandwich</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><a href="http://everything-goes-compugraphd.blogspot.com/">Everything Goes</a><br /><a href="http://bayitandgarden.blogspot.com/">Bayit and Garden</a><br /><br />Check out my other merchandise:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5683170">Other merchandise</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-26779537515183702492008-02-13T13:41:00.000-08:002008-05-05T23:51:34.140-07:00Losing our religionB"H<br /><br />By heritage I'm mostly Ashkenzic. But in my heart, I'm Sephardic. I think it might have something to do with Sephardic ancestors or maybe it's that I'm drawn to the Spanish language (and, by extension, or perhaps it's Spanish by extension, Ladino). I've been in love with Sephardic (and Mizrahi) culture since I knew there was a difference between Ashkenazic and Sephardic. <br /><br />The Sephardic (and Mizrahi) cultures grew around the Mediterranean area where the weather is similar to that of Israel. Ashkenazic culture grew away from the Mediterranean area, in the more Northern areas of Europe (like Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Russia, all in colder climates than Spain, Turkey, Morocco, etc. where the Sephardic culture grew). <br /><br />Because of the change of venue, Ashkenazic Jews often had to come up with other customs. An example of this is <i>Marror</i> (bitter herb for the Passover <i>Seder</i> -- in the <i>Talmud</i>, romaine lettuce is the preferred <i>Marror</i> but because Jews moved to areas of the world where romaine lettuce would not be available in April (around the time of year Passover occurs), the current more popular <i>Marror</i> in Ashkenazic communities is grated horseradish root.<br /><br />Unfortunately, Ashkenazim (and I am officially Ashkenazic) have a tendancy to be chauvinistic (in this specific case I don't mean sexist, even though a lot of Orthodox and "black hatter" Orthodox have a tendancy to be sexist too). That is, they think only their way is right. <br /><br />Often, the Sephardic way of doing things is different from the Ashkenazic way. Sephardim follow the <i>Shulhan Arukh</i>, a book of <i>Halakha</i> (Jewish Law) written by Rabbi Yosef Caro in the 16th Century. It didn't take long for the Ashkenazic community to start adding on to this work. <br /><br />The biggest issue in this regard is that since Ashkenazim are woefully uninformed about Sephardic customs, they often interpret Sephardic customs, culture and halakha as being inferior in some way to their "brand" of observance. <br /><br />I see this happen in just about every Sephardic community -- Sephardim often have to defer to the Ashkenazic way of doing things. Sephardim, consequently, are forgetting their customs and observances. <br /><br />Since the Sephardic way is often the way of the Mediterranean area and, hence, the original Israel custom, it is important that these customs be preserved. It is wrong for Ashkenazim to treat Sephardic customs as substandard. It is wrong for Ashkenazim to push their ideas and opinions on Sephardim. But it is equally wrong for Sephardim to allow it. Sephardim should stand up to Ashkenazim. <br /><br />When Moshiah comes, he will be the one to figure out which is the appropriate custom. In the meantime, <i>all</i> customs and variations of Halakha need to be respected. Always.<br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hanuka/">Hanuka</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/math_hints1">Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/gwashington">Presidents1: George Washington</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Passover_the_spring_holiday">Passover: Holiday of Freedom</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen4">Ruth and Naomi</a><br /><br />Check out my other blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><br />Check out my other merchandise:<br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5683170">Other merchandise</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-44980436698659677622008-01-08T00:05:00.000-08:002008-01-19T11:57:10.467-08:00Intermarriage "R" UsB"H<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago, there was an article lauding intermarriage in our local Jewish newspaper. I couldn't let this pass without a response. So I wrote an article in answer.<br /><br />The author of the pro-intermarriage article had some pretty unconvincing reasons for intermarrying. He said that Christians had also suffered at the hands of the Nazis and sort of implied that this made it ok to marry Gentiles. I said that, while it was terrible that Christians suffered at the hands of the Nazis (his figures on the number of Christians killed by the Nazis was inflated and, according to my best friend, who knows more about this sort of thing than I do, probably came from some white supremacist site), but this was irrelevant when it comes to discussing intermarriage because intermarriage has nothing to do with shared suffering and didn't begin when Jews were persecuted. I said that Jews were protecting a way of life, Shabbat, Kashrut, family purity laws, and these were things that were <i>intrusive lifestyle differences</i>.<br /><br />I got a lot of positive feedback to the article I wrote. But one friend gave me the best feedback of all. She's a friend of mine (and a very sweet person) who I sing with in my Jewish community choir. She told me she loved my article and gave me a big hug. I then told her that I should have added something to my article. I started explaining what I thought I should have said by telling a joke.<br /><br />A congregation hired a new Rabbi. His first Shabbat giving a d'var Tora, he talked about Shabbat. The board members came to him after the sermon and said, "Since we have a lot of members who don't keep Shabbat, please don't talk about Shabbat." The next week he spoke about Kashrut. The board members came to him after the sermon and said, "Since we have a lot of members who don't keep Kosher, please don't talk about Kashrut." The next week, he talked about intermarriage. The board members came to him after the sermon and said, "Since we have a lot of members who are intermarried, please don't talk about intermarriage." Finally, in desperation, the Rabbi says to the board, "well, what <b>should</b> I talk about?" The members of the board smiled and the president said, "Judaism!"<br /><br />I should have said that even if you don't keep Shabbat, Kashrut and family purity laws, preserving our heritage <i>is</i> Judaism and Shabbat, Kashrut, family purity and the Mitzvot are what makes Judaism Jewish. These are the essence of what being Jewish means. Judaism isn't some social club. It's a way of life, and a way that gives life meaning.<br /><br />When <i>Hashem</i> (G-d) gave the Tora, (S)He gave us a guide for living a perfect life. If everyone in the world followed the Tora (Jews following our laws, Gentiles following their 7 Mitzvot) perfectly, we would all have perfect lives. (Of course, since we are human, it would be impossible for us to follow the Tora perfectly, but the closer we come to perfection, the closer our lives will come to perfection.)<br /><br />Rabbi Kuk used to say that there are two kinds of Jews -- those who are religiously observant and those who are not <b>yet</b> religiously observant. I tend to agree with him. I see every non-observant Jew as someone who might one day be observant and, in being observant, might bring him/herself and the earth closer to that perfection.<br /><br />Check out my blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://israelanditsplaceintheworld.blogspot.com/">Israel and it's Place in the World</a><br /><a href="http://modern-orthodox-singles.blogspot.com/">Jewish Singles</a><br /><a href="http://strongjewishwomen.blogspot.com/">Strong Jewish Women</a><br /><br />Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):<br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/whybevegetarian/">Why Be Vegetarian</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted1/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegismgettingstarted2/">Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/RoshHashana/">Rosh Hashana</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/quickvegancooking1/">Quick Vegan Cooking</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/fruitbars/">Creating new recipes from old</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jewishcalendar/">About the Jewish Calendar</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/workshop/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/witches_and_morality">Witches and Morality</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/PresTrivQuiz">Presidential Trivia Quiz</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/jsinglexmas">Christmas and the Jewish Single</a><br /><br />Check out <i>Strong Jewish Women</i> and <i>Wearable Art</i>:<br /><a href="https://www.cafepress.com/compugraphd2">SJW and WA merchandise</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034300746355340257.post-9057503053897840682007-12-18T13:10:00.000-08:002007-12-18T22:37:49.812-08:00Why I created this blogB"H<br /><br />This past Shabbat (Sabbath), my Rabbi spoke about a young man who he was working with. He was a nice young Jewish man who had fallen prey to the "Jews for J***s" and was now questioning this move. The problem was that this young gentleman was so confused that he just didn't know which way to go.<br /><br />I can understand his confusion, though I don't share it. I was fortunate enough to have a good Yeshiva (Jewish religious school) education so I know what it is that is so wonderful about Judaism. And even with that, I had some years of confusion in my late teens to early twenties. <br /><br />But the thing is, the Tora shows the path to a good life. The Tora life is basically a good life, a moral life, a life that fits with the circadian rhythms of the world, the flora and fauna of earth, the cosmos and G-d. The Tora is basically a "user's manual" for the world written by the Creator of the world. <br /><br />In any case, I decided it was time for me to present a Tora view of the world (Keep in mind, I said "<i>a</i> Tora view" <b>NOT</b> "<i>The</i> Tora view") of things. The title for this blog came from the blog entry below, which first appeared on my <a href="http://israelanditsplaceintheworld.blogspot.com/">Israel and its Place in the World</a> blog:<br /><br />Last night, I was one of the privileged few (I heard 15 hundred???) who was part of Brigitte Gabriel's conference call "town meeting". I missed the beginning (I was talking to my best friend), but I was on the phone listening (with the mute on the phone) for over a half hour.<br /><br />Brigitte Gabriel's organization, American Congress for Truth, is trying to defeat Islamofascism in the United States and the World. For that I applaud her and the organization.<br /><br />But as a Jew (in particular, an Orthodox Zionistic Jew) I have an issue. The issue is not specifically with Brigitte. We have for centuries had to deal with hatred and people wanting to destroy us and most of the time they fell into one of two categories: the Hamans of the world (represented by Purim), who wanted to destroy our bodies, and the Antiochuses of the world (represented by Hanuka), who wanted to destroy our souls.<br /><br />Hitler was a Haman. Torquemada, for all the Jews whose murder he had a hand in, was an Antiochus. <br /><br />But in this century we have to deal with both Haman and Antiochus. The Muslims want to kill us like Haman and the Christians, with all their "love bombing" and deceptive Messianic tactics, like Antiochus, want our souls.<br /><br />This puts us in a very strange position. Politics makes strange bedfellows and for us right now we have to "to go bed", so to speak, with the Christian right, the very people who are after our souls with their financial support of Jews for Jesus, because they are the people in the US who are actually supportive of Israel. These are the people who visit Israel, who get up on their Radio and Television shows and promote Israel. These are the people who are working on fighting the Islamofascists, the ones who lauded Israel for attacking terrorists in the south of (the Syrian puppet regime of) Lebanon.<br /><br />But these are also the people who are trying to convert us. These are the people who think that their quickest route to heaven is by converting Jews. These are the people who believe we will burn in hell for all eternity. And these are the people, who, in their heart of hearts, believe that when Jesus "returns" in his "second coming", those of us who don't join them in the final war of Armageddon will die.<br /><br />These are the people who use the word "crusade" to describe a holy mission against the Muslims. But what they either don't know or choose to forget is that for us Jews, the Crusades were hardly a picnic. Just as we are today, we were sandwiched between the two big religious "super powers". <br /><br />What neither side seems to understand (probably because both sides are so entrenched in societies where their religion holds sway to the extent that they don't need to analyze other ideas) is that there is a very good reason that Jews have historically not converted. Obviously, it's not because we lived in societies where OUR religion held sway. So maybe, just maybe, there's something more to Judaism than either "side" wants to admit. Maybe, just maybe, our way of life is so meaningful that we just don't want to live any other way. But as a Rabbi I know once said, it's like being inside a circle and all the people inside the circle understand what's great about the circle. But the people outside the circle don't understand. And they probably never will until they come into the circle, if only for a short time.<br /><br />Judaism, unlike Christianity and Islam, doesn't claim that its adherents have a corner on truth, justice or goodness. We don't say that if you aren't Jewish you will "burn in hell for all eternity". That's because we don't have to scare people into following our Tora. The Tora has a special place for Gentiles. There are laws that non-Jews are responsible for. These are basically moral laws, like not murdering (yes, murdering -- it doesn't say in the 10 "commandments" that you shall not kill, it says you shall not MURDER), not stealing, not having inappropriate sexual relations (like adultery and incest), setting up courts, not worshiping idols, not pulling a limb off a live animal, etc. <br /><br />We don't need to scare people into following our Tora because we know that following the Tora is to everyone's benefit. From my perspective, you only need to scare people into following your religion if you instinctively know it's not the truth. <br /><br />So what can we do? How can we protect ourselves from the two pieces of bread in the Jewish Sandwich? I don't know. But one thing I do know -- we can't protect ourselves by giving away our land or by arming our enemies or by ignoring the missionaries. We can't protect ourselves by ignoring the Tora. And we can't protect ourselves by turning our backs on G-d.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.cafepress.com/compugraphd2">Strong Jewish Women Merchandise</a><br />More of my writing:<br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomen/">Strong Biblical Women</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/StrongBiblicalWomenRivka/">Strong Biblical Women 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.squidoo.com/strongbiblicalwomen_Rahael_Lea/">Strong Biblical Women Part 3</a>compugraphdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13225642965851132889noreply@blogger.com0